Audience
Christina Vann (Tina) I. Definition of audience II. Capturing the Thought Process III. Keeping the Audience in Mind IV. Proofreading and Connecting V. References I. Definition of audience a. A group of listeners, viewers, or spectators. b. Generally an audience is a group of people who can provide some kind of feedback (e.g. laughter, peer reviews (journalism), or other remarks that express the sentiment of the group as a whole) II. Capturing the thought process a. Getting thoughts onto a page is a task that many writers encounter, especially when keeping their audience in mind. To help get through this daunting task, writers use a variety of alternatives to help construct a written page. In articles discussing ‘capturing the thought process’, there is one specific way that may prove to be one of the most helpful ways to construct any piece of text, and that is to talk out loud while gathering thoughts and putting them together. Scholars ( Berkenkotter, Carol, and Donald M. Murray) have said that when a writer generates thoughts relating to their topic, the person observing them can capture their thinking process and have the chance to go back, after the work is completed, to see the steps the writer took to complete the article, book, or any professional or non-professional manuscript. b. A positive component for capturing the thought process while writers generate a piece of work is allowing the process to go on for however long it needs to until the writer is done composing. When a writer is told to remain silent, they can generally be done in around an hour or two. Whereas if the writer is allowed to talk about their topic and how they will present their thoughts and information to the audience, more time will be taken to construct and plan. c. Also another factor that plays into capturing the thought process is knowing the kind of environment the writer sits in while constructing their thoughts. Depending on the environment, be it their own or a laboratory, will help persuade or dissuade a writer in terms of encouragement and motivation to expand their thinking and come up with a creative way to reach out to their audience, after making clear and concise points on their topic. III. Keeping the audience in mind a. A controversy researchers ( Berkenkotter, Carol) have been battling for a while has been the effect of formal training in rhetoric and how it may or may not affect the writing process and writing skill so of professional and non-professional writers. Is it true that if a person were to go through formal training in how to compose a piece of rhetoric, they will pay attention to their audience more actively than writers who do not? The thinking aloud process comes up again in this article and scholars have said there that gathering data on writers who are actively engaged in writing is useful when they think aloud. Ultimately it depends on the style of writing each writer chooses to write. Are they narrating a piece of work? Are they persuading their audience? Or are they only informing the audience? Either way, depending on how they prefer to present their ideas and information, the audience will be referred to in various amounts. IV. Proofreading and connecting a. When is it okay to proofread work after a writer finishes writing it? Some scholars (Russell Long) believe that at the end is when a writer should go back to re-read any information displayed to fix and connect to the audience. If the writer were to consider their audience before finishing, this distracts them from getting concise points across and their argument is lost in the translations of their thoughts and arguments. To avoid any mistakes such as those, it is best for the writer to wait until their work is complete, and after all other skills for writing are complete before trying to apply and include their audience. V. References a. Berkenkotter, Carol, and Donald M. Murray. "Decisions and Revisions: The Planning Strategies of a Publishing Writer, and Response of a Laboratory Rat: Or, Being Protocoled." College composition and communication 34.2 (1983): 156-172. b. Berkenkotter, Carol. "Understanding a writer's awareness of audience." College Composition and Communication 32.4 (1981): 388-399. c. Long, Russell C. "Writer-Audience Relationships: Analysis or Invention?." College Composition and Communication 31.2 (1980): 221-226.